Wednesday, 21 June 2017

Tony's been a regular Shedder for over a year now. He came to The Shed as a bass player, but he had a few original tunes up his sleeve. And he likes to sing. He's also very keen to master the black art of production. Earlier this year we posted 'First Class Ticket', a song Tony wrote, sang, played bass on, and produced. Pretty handy fellow to have around !!

For his second original offering, YOU AND THE BLUES, Tony asked Kerry to sing lead and Jock to provide back-up vocals. Nice teamwork Tony !

You And The Blues is Jock's PBGB debut. Well done Jock !! Welcome aboard the good ship PBGB !

Jock wandered into The Shed late last year, and is now a very welcome regular. We had heard about Jock through her appearances at the Candelo Blues Club Sunday jams. Word was that Jock could really belt out a blues, and that became very evident as soon as she sidled up to a mic. and let fly. Jock brings a truckload of enthusiasm........ she's great fun to make music with. We can't wait for Jock to feature as lead vocalist on one of our songs............watch this space, won't be long.

Kerry has added her vocals to a half a dozen PBGB songs now, including a couple of her own originals. She really enjoys afternoons in The Shed and seems to be feeling right at home.

Tony explains that You And The Blues tells the age old story of how people are attracted to musicians, but sometimes grow tired of the commitment to music that comes with the territory. That commitment frequently involves many late nights, expenses, trips away, and, well, the word obsession springs to mind. It is no coincidence that the very first PBGB Value reads "Family First.....No rock and roll widows or neglected children here please". So yea Tony, we know where you're coming from !

You And The Blues is Tony's second shot at producing a PBGB song. He's putting hard yards into mastering the ins and outs of production, and it shows.

Tuesday, 6 June 2017

PBGB Blog followers will know that many of our songs start out with just a groove, or a riff, or a clutch of lyrics. It is a great product of the collaborative and supportive nature of The Shed that a shred of an idea will bloom, with input from here there and everywhere, into a song we are all happy with.

It is also the nature of The Shed that different people participate in different songs.............not everybody gets involved in all of our songs. 'Side projects' abound.

In the case of BiiK, Pete had a drum and bass groove, and an 'interlude', floating around in his scone. Couldn't get rid of it in fact. He practiced up the drum patterns and turned to Neil for help marrying the drums and bass together.

Neil got that sorted tout suite.

From there on it just developed from a flurry of emails, experiments, test tastings and floated ideas.

Communicating musical ideas via emails is not easy, and there were many times Pete thought Neil might come down the hill with an axe. But in fact, Neil displayed incredible patience and understanding as they hammered the song together piece by piece.

So, as you might gather, this was not recorded 'live in The Shed'. Nope. Far from it. This is more a product of Neil's 'Jiguma Studio'. All Neil took away from The Shed were three or four drum patterns and some weird 'Pete' ideas. The rest was all pieced together at his place. Painstakingly. Step by step. With much trepidation on both sides.

But it was very exciting when we both went "yes !" and we had another piece locked in.

So....................

BiiK is the result of an extended collaboration between Pete and Neil.

Pete had the rough concept, and a few drum and bass patterns in his head. He played the drums.

Neil did everything else.....................great suggestions, guitar, bass, dulcimer, and all the Production work.

They are delighted. What do you think ? Have a listen by clicking HERE.

Oh.....................people asked "what is the song going to be called ?"............."BiiK" ..............what does BiiK mean ?